Drank: Nina’s Lager (Old Town Brewing)

Nina is the name of the supposed ghost
haunting the back corner of Old Town Pizza. Legend has it, she was a
prostitute tossed down an elevator shaft for snitching on the Merchant
Hotel’s pimps. Forty years ago, Nina got lots of new potential hauntees
when Old Town Pizza started tossing its fresh and bready dough near
where she had been hooking. She’s spotlighted anew thanks to Nina’s
Lager, a pale, malty German brew modeled on the pre-Prohibition suds the
Merchant’s guests and johns may well have drunk. The brew came from Old
Town’s newer Northeast Portland location, where brewmaster Bolt
Minister has established himself as one of the city’s winningest dark
horses with a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. It’s a
highly quaffable brew, with a clean, sweet malt profile that lingers in
an unobtrusive way, more like a gentle reminder of the past than a
haunting.